Eight30Notes

Every year the same question repeats itself, How do I choose my planner? Previously I used HP Mini and Personal. For the last 2 years, I’ve used the CP Petite size for my EDC (everyday catchall) and my Personal has now become my archive planner. In choosing my planner and setups I consider 3 key things:

1. PURPOSE: I ask myself what do I want it for? For me, I knew I wanted something small enough to carry with me in my everyday bag rather it be to work or to school. I also have small penmanship and realized that my writing style on large paper leaves so much unused space. My favorite pen is the Uni One Gel Pen 0.38 and it’s perfect for small compact pages. But if I was someone with larger penmanship who wanted something to stay stationary on a desk I would go with a larger planner like A5 or Half Letter.
2. STYLE: Am I looking for something that I can have more flexibility with aesthetically? Am I looking for something that needs to be undated because I may not want to use it daily/weekly? For example, while I was in school I preferred the spiral planner because I didn’t want to work on building a planner and I didn’t need a variety of inserts. And I went with the UNDATED WEEKLY ADMIN INSERT in my EDC because some weeks I didn’t have anything to plan out personally.
3. USAGE: Now that we’ve gone through our purpose and style it’s time to choose what we will use as far as inserts and dashboards if you’re choosing to build your own. For my EDC I know I wanted to keep my schedule compact and I love having my weeks and months on one page so the 2025 WEEKLY ADMIN BUNDLE was perfect for me. I also chose the ESSENTIAL SIDE TAB DIVIDERS because I knew I only wanted 2-3 sections to keep things compact. For 2025 Im only using 2 of the 3 dividers. One for scheduling, and one for notes. In my notes section I like to keep this as my flexible section to try out new inserts. Currently I’m loving the Column Note Taking inserts because its a combo of graph and lines. As far as dashboards I choose whatever feels motivating to me at the moment rather its with a quote or artwork.

I hope this helps you choose your next planner or at least make it easier to build off of what you have now. Comment below if you have any questions.